Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Well... I'm b-a-c-k!
Thanks to all of you who wished me safe travels and such.
I haven't even begun to get caught up with my blog reading, let alone anything else.

How does being away from home for only five days seems like it was two weeks?

We crammed a lot in, I guess that's why...but it is always good to get back home again.

~

On our way to Ohio for my family reunion (that will be another post),

we stopped in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky for a day and night, where lived before we came here.

As a rule when traveling to Ohio, we go by way of Virginia and West Virginia...
...a much more direct route for us, but we decided to take a little side trip this time.

They say (whoever they are) that you can never go home again...

...and although there is some truth to that, it's not always the case.

When we leave a place that we had called home for so many years,

often we want to be able to come back and see that everything has remained the same.

It had probably been fifteen years or so since we had been back for a visit,
and we saw so many changes as soon as we took the exit off the interstate...

we hardly recognized the place at first!

As we got into town, things started looking very familiar...

...in fact, some of the building and landmarks hadn't changed a bit!
~
Sadly, the house where we used to live was empty and run down.

Someone didn't show this place the love that they should have.

Among other things, the semi in-ground pool in the back yard was gone,
the hole filled in and many lovely trees had been cut down.

Sad.

This "Tot Finder" sticker in the front window has been there since probably 1988 or so.
It was given to my Adam when he was in elementary school during a fire safety assembly.
I remember the day he brought it home and promptly stuck it in his window.

Can you believe it has been there all these years?
I guess that alone speaks volumes about the condition of the house.
~

We lived in Mt. Sterling from 1981 until 1992 and Adam, our youngest was born there.

It was also there that Jim and I began our walk with the Lord...

...and found out what being a part of the family of God was all about.

What a blessing it was to take up where we left off with a few of our old friends!

A while back we had reconnected on Facebook and have kept in touch ever since,

and had then arranged to get together when we got into town.

So here's how it played out...

I called Nancy and told her we had just gotten into town.

She told tell me that she and hubby (Snookie) were heading to Kroger for a few groceries.

We had just been to Kroger and was actually pulling out of the parking lot!

Needless to say, we turned that buggy around in a heartbeat,

and had a sweet reunion in the parking lot of the grocery store!
After having lunch together, we went back to their home for a "short" visit.

While there, Cathy, another mutual friend called to ask Nancy if we had gotten in yet.
She lived only a couple miles down the road and wanted to come by and say "hello".
Her hubby was unable to join us and on her arrival, she stated she could only stay a few minutes.

Long story short, we spent the rest of the day catching up,
laughing so hard we nearly wet our pants,

and finally having a time of sweet prayer together before we left for the evening.

Our photos were a little blurry...

...but our memories of good times were sharp and clear.
Our group selfie was a little messed up too...
...kind of hard get us all in without a selfie stick...lol!
Cathy chose to be shy...plus she had the longest arms :)

The next morning we met again for breakfast and then we were off to Ohio.
About 30 miles north we stopped at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington.

So the entire eleven years we lived here, we'd never visited this beautiful place.
Don't ask me why because I just couldn't tell you the answer...
...and the term good fences has a whole new meaning to me now.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

A horse crossing...literally :)

Many beautiful old stone fences...

...and lastly, as we were walking along, we met Oreo and his sweet family.

He immediately brought me this stick to throw for him...

...and I did...

...and the games were on!
I also learned that he was very talented in his herding abilities.
His owners told us that at large family gatherings when folks start spreading out,
he promptly starts herding them all back together in a group...lol!
Oreo is one smart puppy!
~
And so it was back on the road again.
Ohio was almost in sight :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

and will be stopping by our old hometown of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky on the way.

We lived there for eleven years before moving here in '92...

...thought it would be fun to spend a day there and meet up with some old friends.

It's been two years since I have seen any of my siblings.
Yes, you could say I'm pretty excited...
...especially since all eight of us will be together!
~
So have a great weekend and I'll see you when I get back!

Monday, July 20, 2015

You know, the world is just filled with fascinating and beautiful critters.

Does it ever just blow your mind how God came up with all of them?

Since I started my blog a couple of years ago,

I have to admit that the things that I used to take for granted,

almost seem like new discoveries for me.

~

I believe this lovely dragonfly is a twelve-spotted skimmer...

...according to the description on Google.

If they stay still long enough to get a good photo you can certainly appreciate their beauty.

I found this one swarming around in a grown up area in front of our local Walmart.

Queen Anne's Lace was also growing there and on that particular morning

the sun illuminated the outline of it, creating the most glorious effect.

And then there's that sensation you get when you reach down to pick a tomato...

...and what you feel isn't a tomato at all...

...but one of these "lovelies".

My first response was... EEEW!!

But you know, after I cut the part of the vine off where it had been eating the tomatoes,(the worm was still on the vine because if you think I was actually going to touch it, you would be WRONG)
I stood there studying the intricacy of his design and I was actually in awe this tobacco hornworm...
...not to be confused with the tomato hornworm.
Imagine that...a tobacco worm was eating my tomatoes!

Who else but the God of the universe could (or would) create something like this?
I was making a joke about it having eyes all the way down it's body...they do look like eyes, huh?
They aren't eyes, but they actually breathe from them!
~
So I was getting ready to go shopping on Friday and this guy just would not get off my car.
I didn't take the time to google this one...

...but my, what BIG eyes you have!
~
But I have to say, my favorite encounter with critters this week was of these baby hummers.
At first I thought it was just one baby but after reviewing my photos,
I noticed the different color variations in their feathers,
this one having red on top of it's head.

They were just learning to fly...and drink from the feeder.

You could almost see the uncertainty on their little faces,

this one looking quite puzzled as Mama was hovering near.

How adorable!

The drama came when this one landed on top of the feeder and didn't quite know what to do.
Once, he fell to the ground and just laid there for a moment.
I quickly ran out to try to rescue him and then he just as quickly flew away!

It wasn't five minute later, he was back again on top of the feeder...
...and after hanging on for dear life, let go and plunked into the window sill!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

If there's one thing I look forward to in the summer,(and of course there are many)
it's when those trees with the pink "poofy things"(as I so lovingly refer to them)
start blooming just about everywhere I look.

The Mimosa~Jason TomlinsonThe only thing I know about trees is what I’m able to viewI don’t know much but I like to watch to find out what they doand I’ve noticed my mimosa tree every single yearand how late in the spring its blossoms appear.

There are trees all over my neck of the woodspunctuating the landscape of all our neighborhoodsand it’s so nice when spring comes aroundand the trees blossom all over town.

But it’s strange when I watch the mimosa tree
and why it waits so late is a mystery to me
but then I was encouraged by that one thing
the mimosa isn’t competing to bloom first in the spring,

it just does what it does slow and steady
and then it blooms when it is ready.

HELLO, FRIENDS!

About Me

I am a transplanted southern girl, raised in Ohio, now living in Central NC. I am the baby out of eight children and being a part of a large, crazy family has been the biggest blessing of my life. I have been married to Jim for 40 years and we have two adult sons, three grandsons, one grand daughter. And last but not least, we have two ornery doxies, Oscar and recently adopted Tasha. I love the Lord Jesus and do my best to live for Him, although at times, I fail miserably...His grace amazes me. I love capturing the beauty of the Creator through the lens of my camera and I pray that my humble little blog is an encouragement to all who visit!
Blessings, Debby